What is the Point? My First Post

I have talked myself out of starting this project for more years than I can count. While I have always been an avid reader and writer, I never felt like I was interesting enough that people would want to read about my life or my interests. The election of 2016 was the final spark in a fire that has been smoldering for most of my life. I was a first year law student at the time of the election, and had just moved to Arkansas almost twenty hours away from my home in Virginia. I made the move with just my dog, my furniture, and my rather large book collection (which my brother begrudges me every time he has to help me move it into a new apartment). I have lived in four states in the last year and a half since finishing my Bachelor’s degrees. I have gotten engaged and begun the awesome but exhausting process of merging my life with another person. It was not until the night of the election, however, that I realized it didn’t matter if I didn’t feel good enough to write for the public. I realized sitting up until 3:00 a.m. central time watching the votes come in from across the country that I was never going to be ready. I was never going to know everything or understand everything. In fact, that night, I felt like I knew nothing.

I realized that night that it didn’t matter if I felt ready. I realized that suddenly, there was no more time to lose. I realized that my thoughts and opinions and the things that I have learned are valuable and needed to be shared. Our country is in a time of turmoil for more reasons that I can count. I hope that this blog will be a place where I can share my attempts to untangle the wicked webs we have woven for ourselves. I hope that others will share their insights and allow me to broaden my horizons and deepen my convictions. I realized the night that Donald Trump shocked the nation by taking the presidency, that our nation no longer belongs to just my parents or my grandparents. My internal speech about “when I am older” is no longer valid and has become an excuse instead of a cautious approach. This is the time for me to begin to make my impact on the world and it begins here with this space. I hope you enjoy my journey and that it inspires you to spend some time forming your own opinions and deepening your own convictions.

Lots of people don’t vote and many others can’t vote for various reasons (convicted felon, transgender and having trouble procuring the proper ID, and other types of voter suppression). I hope that this election will inspire many more people to come out and vote next year. Everyone should be invested in the outcome of the election enough to cast a ballot.